Keeping the Broads wet: using new technology to understand our peatlands

Keeping the Broads wet: using new technology to understand our peatlands

At first glance, a field that stays green through a long, hot and dry summer might look like a success story. 

But beneath the surface, things can be very different. 

Across the Broads, our peatlands are important stores of carbon and provide valuable habitat for wildlife. When peat is kept wet, it can lock away carbon for long periods. When it dries out, however, that carbon can be released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Understanding how water moves through these landscapes is therefore an important part of protecting both the Broads’ natural environment and its role in tackling climate change. 

Now, for the first time, the Broads Authority has captured six months of continuous, live water-level data at field scale, giving us a much clearer picture of what is happening beneath the surface. 

From drainage to water retention 

The site, along the River Ant, was previously extensively drained for farming. As part of wider work to restore and improve the condition of the peatland, we have been exploring ways to retain more water and raise water table levels. 

During autumn and winter 2025–26, we installed sluice gates and a bund designed to help retain water and maintain higher summer water table levels. 

The work was supported by funding from Natural England’s Nature for Climate Programme and Anglian Water’s Get River Positive programme. 

But putting measures in place is only part of the story. To understand whether they are working – and to make better decisions about future land management – we need to know what is happening to water levels over time. 

That is where the new monitoring system comes in. 

Nine sensors, six months of data 

In March 2026, we installed nine water-level sensors, known as dipwells, across the site. 

Remote water-level monitoring isn’t new to the Broads, but collecting this kind of information has traditionally been labour-intensive or has relied on workarounds, such as webcams pointed at gauge boards. This project takes a different approach. 

The solar-powered sensors continuously record water levels and transmit the information to a gateway, which uploads it to a server. The system uses a low-powered, wide-area network known as LoWaRAN, providing a relatively low-cost way of monitoring environmental conditions across a large area. 

The technology was provided by Cwiri Ltd, a UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology startup specialising in environmental monitoring and carbon verification across peatland and woodland projects. 

For the Broads Authority, it means we can see how water levels are changing in real time, rather than relying on occasional measurements. 

And that matters because water doesn’t behave in the same way everywhere. 

What is the data telling us? 

Six months is still the beginning of what we hope will become a much longer monitoring programme. Nevertheless, the data is already helping us understand how the site responds to weather and vegetation. 

We’ve seen a clear daily cycle, with water table depth fluctuating by up to 5cm. This appears to show the influence of water plants and how much water they take up during the day. The higher areas of the marsh are also particularly responsive to rainfall, with sensors recording rapid rises in the water table after rain. 

Importantly, the data suggests that the water retention measures are helping to maintain summer water table levels, even during a very dry period in April when rainfall was only around 5% of what would normally be expected. 

But the data also demonstrates the challenge we face. 

Drought conditions over the summer lowered the water table, and by mid-September it had not yet returned to expected levels. 

As Cwiri explained: 

“While six months represents only the beginning of the monitoring programme, the data collected so far highlights the value of continuous measurements in understanding peatland function and recovery.” 

The early results also show considerable variation in water table conditions across different parts of the site – reinforcing why having detailed, site-specific information is so important. 

Why does keeping peat wet matter? 

Peatlands are extraordinary ecosystems. 

They have developed over thousands of years as waterlogged conditions slow the decomposition of plants and allow organic material to accumulate. That makes peat an important store of carbon. 

But when peat dries out, the conditions change and carbon that has been locked away can be released. That makes water retention an important part of both nature recovery and climate action. 

The Broads experienced long periods of dry, hot weather this summer. Areas remained visibly green, but that doesn’t mean the wetlands weren’t under stress. The Environment Agency reported that East Anglia received an average of just 39mm of rainfall during August – around 66% of the long-term average. 

The monitoring data gives us another way to see what those conditions mean beneath the surface. 

The real value of this project will come as the dataset grows 

Continuous monitoring gives us the opportunity to understand how different parts of the landscape respond to rainfall, drought, vegetation and water-management interventions. Over time, that knowledge can help us respond more quickly to changing conditions and make better-informed land management decisions. 

It can also help us understand whether the measures we put in place are achieving what we hoped they would – and where further intervention may be needed. 

That will be increasingly important as we work with landowners and partners to retain water across the Broads, support healthy peatlands and build resilience to a changing climate. 

The six months of data we’ve collected so far are only the beginning. But they are already showing us something important: when it comes to managing complex wetland landscapes, the more closely we can understand what is happening, the better equipped we are to act. 

And sometimes, the most important changes are happening beneath our feet.